I just watched this film, and I was amazed at how excellent it was! What the ???? with the title? Totally off-base and misleading. It is my understanding that this was a remake of an earlier film, and they would have done better to use the same title or something similar.
shareI have wondered about the odd title of this film as well. From Wikipedia I got this curious little tidbit:
"The film's title refers to one of the trucks in the film, which has the name "Sorcerer" painted across the bonnet (the other is named "Lazaro"), and not to any supernatural or magical character or event. This caused confusion (and walk-outs) among audiences at the time of the film's release as Sorcerer was marketed as a follow-up to Friedkin's successful occult-themed film The Exorcist. According to Friedkin, the title fits the film's general theme: "The Sorcerer is an evil wizard and in this case the evil Wizard is fate, it’s more a film about fate and about the mystery of fate. The fact that somebody can walk out of their front door and a hurricane can take them away, an earthquake or something falling through the roof or something. And the idea that we don’t really have control over our own fates, neither our births nor our deaths, it’s something that has haunted me since I was intelligent enough to contemplate something like it." "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorcerer_%28film%29
I'm not sure I buy in to Friedkin's explanation, though. It sounds like a bunch of BS. I think they just wanted to use a name like "Sorcerer" as a marketing ploy, to bank on the success of Friedkin's previous blockbuster, "The Exorcist."
as follow up to the exorcist... YES... i bet you are right. d@mn good thinking. i didnt catch tha, thanks for pointing it out
also, the 'painted on the truck' thing is lame, i can't believe billy tried to snow us with that one. and if he did, then LET THE VIEWER KNOW. geez.
that's like i make a film called quarterback, about some nuns who own a bakery and play poker at night, nothing to do with football, and then i say 'well the title came from the tiny photo of joe namath on the refrigerator in scene 8 of the movie when the nuns were making sandwiches in the kitchen' or something arbitrary like that.
so.... let's say the joe namath citation is my real reason, and makes sense to me, but if i never let the viewer connect the photo as to why, then it's lost on them.
silly analogy, i know.... i think im rambling, LOL
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"Where.... can I put my ash?"
ltum, your joe namath and the nuns analogy was hilarious! i am literally LOL! if that is rambling, then i would like some more please. :)
sharethat's like i make a film called quarterback, about some nuns who own a bakery and play poker at night, nothing to do with football, and then i say 'well the title came from the tiny photo of joe namath on the refrigerator in scene 8 of the movie when the nuns were making sandwiches in the kitchen' or something arbitrary like that.
There are many films and books where the title has only the most tenuous connection
Context was the problem, I think. If Sorcerer had come directly after The French Connection then the discord between the title and the film would have been largely irrelevant. Coming right after The Exorcist is a different story. Still, I question what effect this really had. Did the first weekend crowd storm out of the theater because of the absence of wizards and witches, and then run home to tell all their friends who subsequently avoided the new Friedkin film for that reason? I like the zeitgeist-of-the-times explanation better. The masses may have just been tiring of gritty, uber-reality pictures, and Star Wars was the antidote they sought.
shareI agree with you in that I doubt that people really went to this expecting a fantasy movie about wizards. The late 60's through mid-70's were dominated by films with dark themes, and by the late 70's people were more in the mood for escapist light entertainment. That's why most of the blockbusters from the 80's were generally mindless fluff.
shareThe late 60's through mid-70's were dominated by films with dark themes, and by the late 70's people were more in the mood for escapist light entertainment. That's why most of the blockbusters from the 80's were generally mindless fluff.
ust to add to your observations Edward, I think that the blockbusters from the late 70s and early 80s greatly benefited from following on the heels of this period of darker themed, antihero type films. This was a period when films were still more adult oriented, even while they were transitioning to blockbusters and escapist fare.
emple of Doom caught hell for its violence, and although it compared poorly to the first and third of the series I still appreciate it for its relative lack of pandering to young audiences. Unfortunately, it also featured the Short Round character, which DID point toward vastly inferior youth-oriented blockbusters that littered the mid-80s and beyond
i agree with you, the title sux.
right up to the end, i kept waiting for something supernatural, like witchcraft. i mean, after all, that is what that word means.
yeah, it wasn't explained. directors sometimes forget to clue the audience in on esoteric details.
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"Where.... can I put my ash?"
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Check my recent thread, 'Is it possible', and tell me if you think I'm nuts or not.
That title has always bugged me.
I wonder if just perhaps . . .
I saw this film when I was 17 and based on the trailers I did not expect an Exorcist type film.
So I have no idea what the hell you are talking about. Was Armageddon supposed to be a biblical film based on it's title? Were you chuckle heads taken in by that title as well?
What killed this film was unfortunate timeing as it was released about the same time as a little film called STAR WARS!!!
Saturday Night Fever, too.
I'd blame the title, though, for this great film's failure, before I'd blame Scheider.
Carpe Noctem!
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"Sorcerer" is definitely a strange name for a gritty adventure film like this, but it's obvious that William Friedkin had this name in mind while filming (even though the original working title was "Ballbreaker"). Why else would he name the truck "Sorcerer" and make sure that it's plainly shown on the hood of the truck (in French) at a couple of points during the movie?
But this only reflects the surface meaning. I used to interpret the deeper meaning as a reference to the miracle (or magic) that Scheider's character figuratively concocts in delivering the dynamite on the suicide mission. This interpretation is legitimate, but Friedkin said he actually named it "Sorcerer" in reference to the evil wizard of fate, which people supposedly have no control over. The grotesque idol-like face we see at the opening of the film and later along the jungle road presumably represent this sorcerer of fate.
My wife objected to one aspect of the ending, but it ties into the whole "evil wizard of fate" theme, as well as the biblical "your sin shall find you out", "you reap what you sow" and "he who lives by the sword shall die by the sword".
Friedkin himself is the Sorcerer.
shareYou are 100% correct.
Hey, want to see sorcerer?
-What's that?-
A movie with that guy from Jaws.
-Hmm. Nah. Lets watch Star Wars again.-
Coming Soon... The December Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qj7fRpcXRI
THE WAGES OF FATE would be a good title, that both lets you know about the original, and yet is different, and ties in with the director's ideas.
Sorcerer has to fall as one of the worst, most misguided misfortunate - fateful - titles for a film.
But I suspect he chose that, not so much to cash in on The Exorcist, if indeed the director chose it, but perhaps as a charm to follow its success, in a bizarre - certainly unconscious because you have to be to choose that title - way.
At the time it was a misguided, but today the "Sorcerer" title carries a ton of power and subtext. He probably regretted it for years, but today I bet Friedkin is very glad he named this film Sorcerer. It is a powerful title.
shareHI, thought the film was interesting and full marks to the physical effects guys and crew as it could not have been an easy shoot. for any one thats curious the name sorcerer appears on the truck at about 1h 7m 40s. is the guy that walks into the bar at the end there to get schneider ?
share